For Native Americans, the buffalo was of vital importance in the Old West. It was a source of food, clothing, shelter, and weapons—and the relentless hunting of that wild range bovid by the white man put it perilously close to extinction. In an effort to foment peace, the U.S. government signs a treaty with the Comanche to make it illegal for buffalo hunters to shoot the beasts on Indian lands. Negotiating the peace is U.S. Cavalry Captain Red Colton (Dick Foran), who shares a kinship with the tribe (he’s an honorary “blood brother”) presided over by Chief Red Smoke (Jim Thorpe…All-American). Red Smoke agrees to meet with Colonel Drummond (Monte Blue), Colton’s superior, by “the next moon,” and promises to bring both of his sons—Little Big Wolf (Carlyle Moore, Jr.) and Little Big Fox (Frank Bruno)—along for the powwow.
Back at the fort, Drummond and Colton get a visit from
buffalo hunter Wade Carter (Craig Reynolds), who requests permission to hunt
buffalo on Comanche lands to meet the demand for buffalo meat and pelts. Drummond says “No dice, Chicago”; he’s
determined to make sure the treaty is enforced—which doesn’t set at all well
with Wade. (When Colton tells him the
last of the buffalo are on Native American land—and once the buffalo are gone,
so goes the tribe—Carter whips out the familiar western film excuse that “the only
good Indian is a dead Indian.” He seems
nice.) So Carter, in tandem with bidness
partner Burley Barton (Henry Otho), orders his henchmen—headed up by Monte
Montague as “Nebraska Bill”—to disguise themselves as Cavalry soldiers and pay
Chief Red Smoke a friendly visit. They
convince the Chief that Drummond wants a chinwag earlier than scheduled, and so
the Chief’s sons journey back with the “soldiers” where they are killed along
the trail. Well, one of them is—Little Big
Wolf, though wounded, manages to make his way back to the tribe and report the
treachery riding the range.
Dick Foran’s (billed as “The Singing Cowboy”) third Warner
Brothers western is short and sweet (it calls it a wrap after 56 minutes), and
therefore it’s painless to take…but although it’s a fast-paced oater this doesn’t
necessarily mean it’s a good one. (I
was kind of critical of Trailin’
West [1936] when I covered that movie earlier on the blog—Treachery Rides the Range [1936] makes West look like Citizen Kane.) Paula Stone,
who also played the love interest in West,
doesn’t get a lot to do in this one other than damsel-in-distress (her
character of Ruth Drummond is on her way to the fort when the Indians start
putting on the war paint…and though Colton is able to stop her stagecoach from
getting her to the fort, she winds up in the clutches of Carter and
Barton). Foran’s musical numbers—Ridin’ Home and Leather and Steel—are also
pretty uninspiring…though director Frank McDonald does attempt to make Leather interesting by having the star
perform as he rides with his fellow Cavalry soldiers. (I kept hearing Stout Hearted Men in my head the entire time.)
One bright moment in Treachery—and
I realize this will only amuse those of us who are fans of the Hal Roach
comedies…so I’m guessing everyone, right?—is seeing Don “Thank you
gigantically!” Barclay as one of Foran’s men, Corporal Bunce. Colton and Bunce have to rescue Ruth Drummond
from the Comanche…because Chief Red Smoke has decreed that Ruth must die to
avenge the death of Little Big Wolf.
Colton gets an idea: he’ll leave Ruth and Bunce with Red Smoke while he
and several members of the tribe ride off in search of the Colonel so
everything can be ironed out. Bunce
reluctantly agrees to this, but tells his superior officer to be careful in
that trademark fruity manner of his: “I have no desire to be parboiled by these Indians...” (It is indeed a shame that no one thought to
bring Barclay back for additional Foran oaters—though the two did work on 1937’s
Black Legion.)
With a story and screenplay by future producer William
Jacobs (he would also script the first and second entries in the Foran Western
series, Moonlight on the Prairie
[1935] and Song of the Saddle
[1936]), Treachery Rides the Range
is pleasant enough but doesn’t really have the “oomph” needed to be a
first-rate programmer (even the villains in this one are ho-hum). It’s available on the Warner Archive MOD DVD set
Dick
Foran Western Collection (though I DVR’d this one from The Greatest
Cable Channel Known to Mankind™).
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